Six Months or Two Years
by downbutnotout
Summary: Cat's weird and Jade's weird and the room is a cage where Cat doesn't belong. Alternate storyline to Star Spangled Tori. Oneshot. Cade aaaaall over.


A/N: I sporadically ship Cat and Jade and this was one of those episodes that had them plastered all over. This hasty little fic came out of my fangirling! Sorry if "Nona" wasn't actually what Cat said, I wasn't sure but that's what it sounded like. Anyway, this fic is completely unoriginal fluff set as an alternative storyline, the first little bit being straight from the episode but... things deviate. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Six Months or Two Years**

"Come on... You have to have some other relative you can live with," Jade said, brow furrowed with worry.

"What about your grandmother?" Robbie suggested,

"Yeah," Jade agreed. "What do you call her? Nona?"

"I would love to live with my Nona but she moved away, to Italy!" Cat said.

"Well... But you can't live here!"

"Yeah, no way," Robbie said, looking sideways at Cat.

"Why?" Cat demanded. "It's not so bad, except that there's nothing to eat other than vending machine food." She pointed to a stack of granola bars and chip bags in the corner of the tiny room.

"I know Sikowitz keeps some food in his room, I think mostly coconuts and bananas?" Robbie offered.

"No more bananas, uh-uh. Having a fruit in your ear changes the way you think about it forever," Cat said firmly.

"Coconuts?" Robbie pushed.

"Okay."

"I'll go get them!" He flashed her a smile and darted out of the room.

Cat watched him leave and Jade watched Cat. She was just about to say something when they heard a thud from outside the room, and both of their heads whipped around to the direction it had come from.

"I forgot the flashlight," Robbie called faintly. There were some shuffling sounds, then a moment later he shouted "I'm fine!" and they heard the play room doors open and close.

"I bet he's going to get lost," Jade muttered mostly to herself before returning her attention to Cat.

The other girl was playing with her hair and avoiding Jade's eyes. Her lower lip quivered ever so slightly, like it did only when she was upset about something. The room was such a sad sight, a cage to a girl like Cat. She didn't belong here.

Jade moved from where she was sitting on the box by the door and kneeled in front of Cat's makeshift bed. She moved the stuffed giraffe off to the side and stilled Cat's hands by taking them in hers.

"Hey," Jade said, to get the redhead to actually look at her. When Cat's wide eyes met hers Jade could tell that she was afraid, but stubborn. "Cat, you can't live here."

"I don't have anywhere else to go," Cat protested in a small voice.

Jade looked down at their intertwined hands, where her thumb was making circles on Cat's skin. "Cat..."

"I don't, Jade, I don't. No one wants to put up with me."

When Jade looked up she saw the tears in Cat's eyes, and she realized that Cat had admitted something huge to her. Everyone knew Cat was weird, and though they were affectionate when they called her crazy it meant that they looked at her differently. She was apart from everyone who was considered "normal" and they all laughed but no one had ever thought about the effect that might have on her.

"Cat," Jade said again, and she moved up onto the bed beside Cat and pulled her into her arms. The other girl wrapped her arms around Jade and clung to her, breathing heavily but refusing to let any tears fall. Jade held her close for a moment, feeling her chest rise and fall against hers. She ran her fingers through Cat's red hair, watching the strands slip between her fingers. She pressed her lips to Cat's head and waited until she felt some of the tension drain from her body before lifting the other girl's face up to hers and brushing the hair out of her eyes.

"You're going to stay with me, okay? Because I'm not letting you stay here."

"I don't know Jade, is your house as scary as you?" She was only half kidding.

Jade smiled. "I'm not that scary."

"I know," she said, and she meant it.

And then they both knew it would be okay, and that Cat could live with Jade for six months or two years, because they fit. They were both the misfits of the gang, the others calling them both weird because Cat was too spacey and Jade too dark. But what the others didn't see was that even though there was more to each of them than just a simple label, sometimes they started to believe what people said. Sometimes they started to think that they _were_ too odd and it meant something was inherently wrong them.

But they could be together and they could be the ones to listen when no one else did. It would all be okay.

"So come on, get your stuff and we'll go back to my place," Jade said, moving from the bed and brushing herself off. "The guest room is right next to mine."

"Okay," Cat said, collecting what few things she had in the room.

Jade ducked out the door and stood on the catwalk, peering into the dark. She had just remembered Robbie, that he had left to go find those stupid coconuts and had yet to return. He probably had gotten lost, the dumb kid. If she had to go find him and pick him up from whatever corner he was crying in, she swore to every god she knew that she was going to-

"Thanks, Jade," Cat said softly, interrupting her thoughts. She had come up behind Jade and wrapped her arms around her, a hug from behind. "Everyone says you're really mean but I know you're not really."

In her arms Jade turned around and hugged the other girl back properly. "Yeah, well, just don't tell anyone about this."

She felt Cat nod against her neck.

"I love you though, Jade."

Jade smiled. It was so rare that anyone said those words to her. "I love you too, Cat."

Then they moved apart and divided Cat's things between them to take back to Jade's house, where Cat could stay for six months or two years or however long she wanted.


End file.
